The Leaves of a New Begining
by lolswhovian
Summary: James and Tessa parted ways and he is trying to make it do in a new place, restarting is never easy. Especially when you share a room with someone who reminds you of your dead best friend. Disclaimer: James Carstairs and shadowhunters belong to Cassie Clare and Amelia Hyde and other characters to me.
1. Brand New World

Well, here is my new story, I hope you guys like it. This first chapter is more like a "locating the reader in time and space" sort of thing. Anyway, reviews are appreciated and encourage writing. Hahah I really hope you guys like it.

* * *

The process of losing someone is already weary for normal people, but for people who have lived more than a century it seems to be even less bearable. James knew life would not be the same without Will, when the boy died a great piece of James died right along with him. He could still see Will's dark blue eyes shining in his mind's eyes and the former shadowhunter's heart would hurt. He was still adapting to this weird world of technology and fat big burgers, and having to do that with the pain of knowing William would never return to him, now he knew Tessa would not either. Their encounter on Blackfriars Bridge had been enough of a pain for him, so he left London and decided for a new life in New York City – the city that never sleeps. As soon as he arrived, the boy felt a little lost and anxious. Of course he had been given his family ring back and – as it was made out of real silver – her sold it and bought his ticket. It all felt really weird, because planes were not like ships and when it flew, James felt his insides tighten and the burger he had eaten earlier reach his throat, beseeching him to get out. But he survived. After arriving in the city, he purchased a guide for tourists at a bookstore in the airport. James knew he would not have enough money to remain in Manhattan for long, which he learned was the most expensive part of New York City. He decided for Bronx, it seemed quite reasonable and nice as well. After a while, the boy figured out how to get to places using the subway and he soon learned he would have to pay close attention to streets and other things because he could not quite manage some of the subway speakers.

By the time the former shadowhunter got to Bronx, he was shocked because of the place's conditions, which seemed quite not good. He soon found a restaurant near the subway station that needed help. He got into the place and it was comfortable and warm; he thanked the Angel for that since he had not realized his hands were freezing. After a while he managed to approach the counter and waited for someone to give him some attention. He started to pay attention to the place, there were nice wooden tables all around the place and couches on either side of them; they were stocked in rows. And he could take a look at the walls, many pictures containing inscriptions and in really nice frames.

"May I help you?" A soft nice voice took James from his reverie and he looked toward the sound. The owner of the voice was probably about twenty, probably, and she had those beautiful dark blue eyes much like Will's. The girl's face was delicate and her skin was like snow, white and smooth. She had thin biscuit-alike red lips and a beautiful long layered blond hair, not a light blond but a dark shade of it and almost brown. "Are you alright sir?" She asked and concern was all over her face, and that was when James realized he had been staring at her.

"I'm here because of the sign outside, if you need help, I can help."

"Oh, you have experience then?" The girl asked while rummaging for something in her pocket. "Recommendation?"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." James raised his eyebrows, confused. "I came to help, you need to have experience helping? Because –"

The girl broke his sentence by laughing discreetly and one of her hands flew to cover her mouth. "Help wanted means we need a new waiter."

"Oh." James realized he knew nothing about this new world, and possibly never would because there were always new things – the more he learned the less he knew. "I have no experience and no recommendation. But I will work for food and shelter, madam."

"Amelia, by the way. Not madam. Not Mrs. Just Amelia or Amy, as you like." Amelia inspected James from head to toe. "I will give you a chance, but you better be good and learn fast because if you don't, I'll get fired right along with you and I need this job. You will be paid, as for shelter or a place to stay – you can crash on my couch as you look for another arrangement and you can cook and help me out. But you better not be a criminal or a rapist or anything like that, I have a gun and I am not afraid to use it. You can start now, in the kitchen – sweeping the floor."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" James was curious, he had been out of the world for so long and things may have changes but his newest experiences so far had showed the world was no better when it comes to human nature and kindness. So why would a stranger be so kind was something of a mystery.

"Because someone did the same thing for me a few years ago and –" She started walking to the back of the restaurant and gestured for James to follow her. "By the way, what is your name? Where are you from?" The girl asked while they walked into the kitchen.

"Oh yes, I am James and I come from England."

"No wonder you look so lost, completely different countries. What brings you here?" Amelia asked as she picked up a broom and handed it to James.

"Restart. I had nothing left for me there." The boy answered and he could hear the sadness in his voice.

"Better get to work then, James. I will need your surname later and documents, just to be safe. You may leave your bag in my closet." She took something out of her pocket, a small key. Keys were weird now, they were thin and small. Amelia handed it to him and the boy took it. "Don't steal anything or I will kill you. Anyway, anything you need, you can talk to me. I will introduce you to the rest of the gang later. And by gang I mean the staff before you think I'm in some sort of mafia business."

The girl went back outside and James put his bag in her closet, which a boy named Jamal had helped him find. And then he started sweeping the floor. When James finished it, he thought that would be it but then the cooks started telling him to get things and wash dishes and he thought he would never make it through the night, but the thing about living so many years – specially as a Silent Brother – is that you get used to learning and to hard work. He survived.


	2. The Loft

Sorry it took me so long to update. I've been busy.

* * *

After work, Amelia directed James to her apartment, alerting him she had a pepper spray on her – which led to her having to explain to him what it was. They walked about five blocks and the air was heavily cold, New York was mostly known as the city that never slept according to his guiding book. And now James could understand why. The girl was silent all the way until her door, then she turned to him. There was something about her eyes that made James go far away – probably the fact that they reminded him of Will's, not only because of their color but because of something they had in them that was so much alike with what Will had in his.

"Listen up, as I told you, I have a gun and I won't hesitate using it if you try to kill me or rape me or do whatever crazy thing may come to your mind." She said seriously, but James could see in her eyes that she did not believe he was a threat, which was a relief because he was not.

"I'm not going to harm you, I promise –" The boy stopped midsentence and took a deep breath, he had to stop himself of speaking of the angel now that he was a mundane – Even the sound of the word was wrong in his mind. "You can trust me."

"I've learned from my toddlerhood that people are not to be trusted. But if you're gonna fit in New York, try to sound more American and less European or foreign, or whatever." She said as she turned and opened the door to her apartment. Then the girl turned on the lights. It was really more of a type of bedroom. As if down to cue, the girl began explaining that it was a loft – and that they were usually expensive but she had gotten a good price on it because someone had been murdered in it. The loft was neatly organized and clean, although she did not have many pieces of furniture. In one of the corners of it there was a bed and on another corner, a fairly huge amount of books organized in piles that could be about six feet high and then his heart ached, the memory of Will and Tessa flashed across his mind's eyes and the boy felt a little lightheaded.

"Are you all right?"

James had not noticed he was pressing his hand to the door that he had closed behind him and was blinking, trying to hold back whatever was trying to flee his eyes, a loop in his throat. "I'm fine, I just – You really love books, as I see."

"Well, yeah, I mean –" Amelia looked at her shoes, possibly trying to hide the soft pink on her cheeks. James asked himself how someone could look so menacing most of the time and so vulnerable without any apparent reason. But then there she was again, menacing and her eyes full of – Pain. That was what reminded James of Will, the pain. The kind of pain someone gets for suffering in silence for many years. He wanted to reach for her, without explanation, he just did. But he knew better, after many years dealing with Will. "You can read them if you want, but if so much as tear a bit of a page –"

"You will kill me." James interjected matter-of-factly, smiling. "I won't. I'm not much of a reader."

"Well, you should be. Maybe if you were, you wouldn't be so naïve." The girl dropped her bag on the sofa in the middle of the living room. There was only the sofa there and an old television on top of a coffee table. The she went to, what James supposed was, the kitchen. It had a balcony and an old refrigerator – buying a new dictionary was very helpful indeed. "Make yourself at home. There is the bathroom." The girl pointed to the corner opposite to the bed. "You can shower if you want, which I bet you do. Are you vegan or vegetarian or normal?"

He laughed a little. "Normal."

"Great, I'll make dinner while you take a shower. Do you cook?"

"Actually –" The boy could feel his cheeks heat up and sighed. "No."

"You'll do all the other chores and I'll deal with cooking and buying supplies. Now, go. I want to shower too, OK?" She snapped while taking items from the fridge. And James noticed that there was stove beside the refrigerator.

The bathroom was small and the light in it a little dim. There was barely space for the mirrored cabinet on top of the sink, the sink, the toilet and the shower. The boy let the water wash over him and started thinking about the events of the day and of how lucky he was to actually get a place to sleep so fast and so cheap – since it was free. He smiled at the thought of the hint of kindness in the world. Amelia was much like Will, he thought, she was too much like Will. And for a second, James let all his grief flow about him with the water. And then tears and drops of the warm water mixed together. James was taken out of his trance by Amelia punching at the door and yelling about not wasting all of the hot water, because she needed to shower.

Amelia cooked a delicious meal that James came to know was mainly a mix of everything she had on her fridge – some beans, broccoli, loose corn, chicken and spices. There were not much real talking during dinner, Amelia was not the sharing type James assumed. Then the girl prepared the couch for him to sleep in.

"You're gonna sleep here and you should do it soon because we're leaving here early tomorrow, you're gonna take two shifts just like I do. So that I don't have to leave you alone here during the first week. I still don't trust you that much." James smiled at that and he noticed Amelia blushing. "You just don't smile at me like that OK? Anyway, you can feel comfortable but not too comfortable. Now, wash the dishes alright? You know how to wash the dishes, don't you?"

"Yes, yes I do. Thank you for everything. You've been very kind to me. As to why, I don't quite understand."

Amelia sighed and her cheeks turned to a heavier shade of pink. "I just – I feel sorry for you. You're here and you don't know anyone, you seem to be really naïve. I don't think people could actually pretend to be that naïve. Besides, someone helped me a few years ago and now say that I'm returning the favor to the world. You may stay as much as you like, but as I said, I'm very well prepared to defend myself and you'll have to help. I'll show you the city this weekend, we can eat out and you'll have the time of your life walking around Times Square." She said absentmindedly while rummaging through the closet beside her bed. "And I'll clean up the mess here so you can have some space. Is that bag all you have?" She pointed to the backpack James had left by the door and he nodded. "Well, you'll need some clothes and we can buy them this weekend. Luckily, I have a credit card. You can pay me when you get your first paycheck. And you better not bail on me or I'll hunt you down like a dog."

James looked at her for, what he was sure, was a long amount of time because the girl was looking uncomfortably at him. And he blinked away his thoughts. "You remind me of someone, so much."

"Yeah?" She crossed her arms and smiled. "Who?"

"A friend I lost, someone very important." The words hurt his throat and even more his heart. Saying something like that aloud just made it even more real. And suddenly he was being embraced by that emotionally walled up girl. At first, it was an awkward embrace; Amelia couldn't quite comfort him because she was smaller than he was. But then the boy let his forehead fall against her should and she tightened her grip on him as he his arms involved her. James could notice it was not the sort of situation she was used to, she felt uncomfortable and stiff.

"You can cry if you want, I won't make fun of you." And he noticed the tears falling down his face. "I know how you feel, and I know it will never heal and nothing I say will ever help, but I can listen. If you want to talk about this friend. It helped me."

And then they both sat on the couch and James told her about Will, about how he was a brave and bittersweet man. He told her about how he had been the only family James had for a long time. He knew he could not tell her about certain things, shadowhunting and living almost two centuries ago. And he just kept talking about how much Will mattered to him and how strong their bond was. It helped indeed, even if it felt weird telling a completely stranger about one of the most important people in his life, James felt relieved of sharing a bit of his pain and his nostalgia with her. And she listened, without complaining or creating jokes about it, she just sat there and listened to him, giving him all her attention and he sometimes got lost on her beautiful deep blue eyes. She also reminded him a little of Tessa, who would help anyone who needed help even if she did not have any connection to the person. He knew Amelia would not open up to him as he did to her, so easily. But, in time, he thought, they could become friends.


End file.
